Glass Skin
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: Twoshot. Alternate version of the scene in Undone when Joanne gets Cassiel drunk. CassielxAshan pairing.
1. Glass Skin

**DISCLAIMER: Weather Warden/Outcast Season belongs to Rachel Caine.**

_I open out my wings of glass,  
__Up and towards the wind melted future,  
__So just please don't go,  
__Please don't go_.  
-Dir en Grey, "Glass Skin"

~ Glass Skin ~

Joanne took one look at the expression on Cassiel's face and thought, _Maybe getting her drunk wasn't really the best idea I've ever had_.

Before she had time to elaborate on that thought, though, another problem popped up - literally.

"Changed your mind already?" Ashan asked, and Joanne belatedly realized that Cassiel must have called him here.

"No," Cassiel snapped.

She was out of her chair and across the room before Joanne had time to do more than think, _Oh shit, she's going to attack him?_

Cassiel, expression caught between fury and something Joanne couldn't quite put a name to, stopped directly in front of Ashan.

_Or maybe she's just going to yell at him_.

"You are intoxicated," Ashan observed with a disapproving frown… just before Cassiel fisted her hands in his shirt collar and kissed him, hard.

Joanne almost wanted to laugh as Ashan - the stone cold bastard badass Djinn - froze, eyes wide in stunned disbelief. She wondered idly if she was witnessing his first kiss. Considering how cuddly he _wasn't_, she wouldn't be surprised if this was his first encounter involving anything that even remotely resembled affection.

After a long moment, Ashan laid his hands on Cassiel's shoulders. But he neither pulled her closer nor pushed her away. He still seemed unsure about how to react as Cassiel finally broke the kiss and relaxed her grip on his collar. Yet still she clung to him, burying her face against his neck as she burst into hysterical sobs.

Joanne watched as the surprise finally faded from Ashan's expression. Now he simply seemed exasperated and slightly confused with Cassiel's behavior. He made no attempt to comfort her, simply held her while she cried.

~to be concluded~


	2. Dozing Green

_You're now melting.  
__Your heart is melting.  
__In the dark morning I hear you whisper "sayonara"_. -Dir en Grey, "Dozing Green"

~ Dozing Green ~

Cassiel knew something was off the moment she woke up. She hadn't been human for very long, but she knew enough about her body to know that the blinding headache was not normal. The headache did, however, make it that much more difficult for her mind to catalog the _other_ things that seemed to be wrong.

Like the fact that although she had awakened in the now-familiar bed, her head was resting on a man's chest rather than a pillow…

She scrambled away from him in a panic - or tried to, at least. She didn't make it far, because his arms were wound around her waist in a surprisingly firm grip. She did manage to pull away far enough to see who it was that was holding her, though.

"_Ashan, what the hell are you doing?_" Cassiel shrieked.

He opened his eyes (he hadn't actually been asleep, apparently) and responded in an infuriatingly calm tone, "You are the one who clung to me and begged me to stay with you. Do you not remember?"

"You're lying," she snapped. "I think I would remember if I had done something so humiliating!"

She glared down at him and saw that he was looking at her with pity in his eyes. Pity! As if _she_ were, in some way, pitiful.

"… wouldn't I?" she asked uncertainly, as some of the anger drained from her to be replaced by apprehension.

"You were quite intoxicated. Do you remember anything that happened last night?"

He finally loosened his grip on her waist, allowing her to slide from his arms.

Cassiel frowned as she attempted to recall the events of the previous evening. She remembered Joanne Baldwin declaring that the situation called for alcohol. After that, her memories were fuzzy at best. Which raised another important question.

"Did we… did we…"

"No," Ashan answered. He knew what she was trying to ask, even though she seemed unable to put a name to the act. "I did not take advantage of you while you were drunk."

Before he had a chance to elaborate further, there was a knock on the bedroom door and David's voice called out, "Everything okay in there?"

Cassiel felt blood rushing to her face as she realized he must have heard her yelling and presumed that she might be in need of rescue.

Before she had gathered her thoughts enough to form a coherent answer, Ashan called out, "Cassiel has a hangover. Other than that, we're fine."

He smirked. She glared.

"Ah, well. Okay. Breakfast's ready…" David replied awkwardly.

They both got up from the bed. Ashan looked overdressed and perfectly groomed, as always. Cassiel looked… well, like someone with a hangover.

Joanne and David weren't surprised that Ashan decided not to join them for breakfast.

"I am never getting drunk again," Cassiel declared as she sat down at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. Her headache was back full-force. Hangovers were definitely not fun.

"Oh, I don't know," Joanne said. "I think it was worth it, just for the look on Ashan's face when you kissed him."

Cassiel's head snapped up and she screeched, "I DID _WHAT_?"

"Ooh, you don't remember?" Joanne asked, wincing in sympathy. "Then maybe I shouldn't tell you that you also cried like a baby… for a really long time, too."

That was it. She was never touching alcohol again. Never.

~end~

**A/N: Reviews are love.**


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